Mozart: Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in B flat, K269

“Their playing has a virtuosity and a palette of rich orchestral colour to challenge the finest performances” Sunday Times

“The SCO's playing is as refined and elegant as these wonderful works themselves.” The Observer

“What a good idea to record these relatively little-known (and recorded) serenades and short violin works by Mozart...The SCO’s playing is as dynamic and reliable as ever...Janiczek’s violin solos in the Serenade and Divertimento are beautifully understated, as an orchestral leader might deliver them, which is to be applauded.” Claire Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 9th May 2007

“Julia Fischer shows real poise and elegance in Mozart violin concertos” BBC Music Magazine, 1st November 2005

“I'd say that anyone on the look-out for a digitally recorded CD of Mozart violin concertos could hardly do better” Robert Cowan, The Independent

“…these performances are full of disciplined subtlety and astonishing interpretative maturity. The G major Concerto, K216, is lush and spirited, the traditional-style performance lacking nothing in warmth. The relaxed, cantabile style of her playing in the final movement serves the dancelike nature of Mozart's music.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2005

The catalogue is already flush with integral editions of Mozart’s youthful violin concertos, but in they flood in the 250th-birthday year. The young Canadian James Ehnes follows the glamorous German virtuosa Anne-Sophie Mutter, but his accounts of these beloved works — perhaps not the greatest Mozart, but music that shows him on the threshold of his miraculous maturity, constantly growing in audacity and revelling in experimentation — are more rewarding. With a hand-picked band, drawn from the cream of North American orchestras, Ehnes offers modern-instrument Mozart, enlivened by brisk tempi, expressive nuance and an infectious joie de vivre demanded by the exuberant fast movements, especially the whirling dervish-like “Turkish” music of the A major’s finale (No 5). Purists might blench at his overtly emotional response to the singing adagios and andantes — and possibly to his own cadenzas, which are unashamedly extrovert in the “romantic” tradition — but if you like Mozart the old-fashioned way, these are beautifully thought-out and rewarding performances. Times, Four stars

“'It flowed like oil,' wrote Mozart to his father apropos of his own performance of one of his violin concertos. The composer's delighted verdict is equally applicable to James Ehnes's vital, elegant, beautifully proportioned playing of all five concertos. Still barely 30, the Canadian violinist here reinforces his credentials as one of the most brilliant and discerning players of his generation, with a sweet, gleaming tone and a purity of intonation that are second to none.
Among classic recordings, Ehnes is closest to the poised, patrician Arthur Grumiaux (see above), though his touch, like the excellent orchestra's (hand-picked from the cream of North American players) is that much lighter.
In the Allegros, Ehnes's gracefully finished phrasing and glistening, strongly directed passagework are a constant pleasure, while his intense singing line and delicate variations of colour make each of the slow movements memorable.
From what we know of 18th-century practice, his tempi for the Adagios of K207 and K216 are improbably broad, but he vindicates them with playing of rapt eloquence.
If there's a reservation it is that Ehnes can underplay the teenage composer's irreverence and sense of fun. Other violinists, including Pamela Frank (Arte Nova), Pekka Kuusisto (Ondine) and, using gut strings and a classical bow, Andrew Manze (Harmonia Mundi – see below), have found more playfulness in a movement like the opening Allegro of K216; and all three bring more earthy gusto to the Hungarian folk tune in K216's finale and the Janissary music in K219. Their cadenzas are also crisper and wittier than Ehnes's, which are aptly in scale but tend to over-indulge in double-stopping.
These gracious, subtly expressive performances, glowingly recorded, can take their place with the finest modern-instrument versions. For a single recording of the complete concertos, though, the palm stays with Frank, who may not quite match Ehnes's tonal lustre but catches that much more of the music's coltish zest.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Still barely 30, the Canadian violinist here reinforces his credentials as one of the most brilliant and discerning players of his generation, with a sweet, gleaming tone and a purity of intonation that are second to none.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2006